Bruno Mars–Today My Life Begins

Not a single, and this is from his 2nd album (yet to be released).

Ah, finally this is more like it, I think! I haven’t been too turned on by Bruno Mars’ music, despite his strong voice, at least in the way of much of the content off his debut album Doo-Wops and Hooligans; Just the Way You Are is a large pile of sugar that, for me, is unbearably saccharine (though I can understand why people may like it), and Grenade, though technically sound is still somewhat overdramatic. Quite a number of people have made Marry You chart, but I personally find that song completely unlistenable as in terms of sugar it is even worse than Just the Way You Are. Nevertheless, I did enjoy Grenade, and The Other Side which featured Cee-Lo Green and B.o.B went down pretty well with me. Of course, not forgetting the successful, saccharine and yet good Nothin’ on You with B.o.B. I like this song, despite its sweet, generic message; it’s much in the vein of Firework. The sugar level is pleasurable without being overbearing.

Could this be a continuation of a storyline? Together with B.o.B, they fell in love with girls on Nothin’ on You and Bruno took a step further, going Just The Way You Are. He then angsted over it with Grenade and broke out of the withdrawal phase with Today My Life Begins! Heh.

Vocally, he’s good as always, the production is simple, very generic, but sound. It’s an empowering song, and excellent for me to practice singing to too. I’m quite pleased with this output. As far as I’m concerned, probably his best song yet.

OVERALL SCORE = 6.5 / 10
Today My Life Begins is a pretty solid offering from Bruno Mars. It’s quite a generic song, but a good one nonetheless.

Bruno Mars–Grenade

Released September 28, 2010.
Billboard: #2 (but does have a chance of #1)
UK: Not released yet

Ah. This one has a strong theme and is, in my opinion, way ahead of Just The Way You Are at least in terms of how the music goes – the lyrics, I’ll talk about that later, though given that Just The Way You Are was painfully brutal in this aspect, I think Grenade is an improvement too. The music video is pretty effective; the piano-pulling story is sad, and the rain visuals work well.

He’s one strong vocalist, too. The lines like I would go through all this pain – take a BULLet straight through my brain aren’t exactly easy to sing, and he pulls them off quite nicely. That oscillating drumline in the background works well to highlight his singing. Musically, I have no complaints.

Unfortunately, like Beat Again, this one suffers from bad lyrics too. While this may partially be my opinion since I can’t say I’ve really fallen (romantically) for anyone yet, the intended poignancy of the lyricism becomes incredibly illogical.

Easy come, easy go
That’s just how you live – oh
Take, take, take it all, but you never give
Should’ve known you was trouble from the first kiss
Had your eyes wide open – why were they open?

Firstly, how would you know? Unless you were inspecting HER eyes too… But other than that verse 1 is okay.

Gave you all I had and you tossed it in the trash, you tossed it in the trash – you did
To give me all your love was all I ever asked, cause what you don’t understand is –

I like this pre-chorus part… he handles the melody very well. So, let’s go to the chorus:

I would catch a grenade for you (yeah, yeah)
Throw my hand on a blade for you (yeah – yeah)
I’d jump in front of a train for you (yeah – yeah) – !!!
You know I’d do anything for you (yeah – yeah) ooohhh
I would go through all this pain
Take a bullet straight through my brain – oh-kay, this is getting disturbing.
Yes, I would die for you baby – but you won’t do the same

And you know it… So I guess he must have fallen deeply in love. However, to have dropped to this extent just seems disturbing. It seems kind of unlikely that jumping in front of a train would save her too, if you needed to physically rescue her – both of you would die, right?

Verse 2:
Black, black, black and blue, beat me till I’m numb
Tell the Devil I said “hey” when you get back to where you’re from
Mad woman, bad woman, that’s just what you are, yeah
You’ll smile in my face then rip the brakes out my car – ???

I actually like the second line, pretty witty there. Sadly, though, the last line makes little sense if we consider the music video. There is no car. I understand it’s just meant to be an aggressive action… Seems like an excuse to rhyme with “are”, unfortunately.

Bridge:
If my body was on fire, ooh
You’d watch me burn down in flames – This reminds me of something…
You said you loved me, you’re a liar – He doesn’t love the way she lies.
Cause you never, ever, ever did baby…

Pretty well done, too… though is the girl really that terrible? From the music video, she only dumped him, so I can’t say very much. Even if the rest of what’s mentioned in the song is true (being calculating from the first kiss, ripping the brakes out his car) this seems like a pretty dangerous inference to make.

The video ends in a scary way, with Mars dragging the piano, and a truck approaches him, and it cuts to black. Oh dear…

All in all, despite the numerous lyrical flaws in it, I think Grenade is a good pop song. The atmospheric effect of the drums contributes significantly to the song, and of course Mars’ vocals are smooth. This seems a bit of an antonym song to Just The Way You Are, though – one song about extreme joy over love, and one about extreme heartbreak.

Wait – some artists thread a few songs to tell a story; I can remember that for Ne-Yo, other than the Libra Scale series, Part of the List and Mad told a coherent story, too. Of course, Kanye West’s Runaway video also featured quite a few songs. Could Grenade be Just The Way You Are’s successor? After all, her eyes made the stars look like they’re not shining, so they were BRIGHT and WIDE, perhaps? He was pretty much blinded – So don’t even bother asking if you look okay / You know what I’d say! 

OVERALL SCORE = 6.5 / 10
Grenade is a well-executed pop song about heartbreak that unfortunately has lyrics which seem over-the-top and excessively dramatic. Bruno Mars’ execution is excellent, nonetheless.

B.o.B ft. Bruno Mars–Nothin’ on You

Released on February 2nd 2010 (US), 17th May 2010 (UK).
Billboard: Peaked at #1 on May 1st 2010.
UK Charts: Peaked at #1 on May 23rd 2010.

For me, this song bears a special significance in that it was the song that made me actually interested in the pop-rap hybrid that has been increasingly employed by various artists. While Nothin’ on You definitely isn’t the first pop-rap song I’ve heard, or even the first good pop-rap song I’ve heard (I haven’t really been keeping up with music, but Dead and Gone and Green Light (John Legend and Andre 3000 one, not Roll Deep one) were pretty good for me), it’s probably the first one that I’ve found really solid all around, with both elements pretty strong. B.o.B is pretty entertaining and capable on his delivery, and even crosses over fairly acceptably (when singing the pre-chorus sections, as in the There’s so much nonsense/It’s on my conscience and I’ve been to London/I’ve been to Paris… parts). Naturally, Bruno Mars is excellent and smooth with his notes. This song has a very solid and catchy melody.

The song basically tells a very normal story, and essentially is a retelling of what happened to Ne-Yo’s character as featured in Knock You Down (I used to be commander-in-chief of my pimp ship flyin’ high/Till I met this pretty little missile, shot me out the sky). Except that B.o.B is less successful – …And honestly, (he) ended up with none. That said, it’s a bit more revealing than that, as in this case it’s not simply, or perhaps not just that he’s lovestruck, but also that he’s been able to observe his past aimlessness. (Or perhaps, it may just be an excuse for his past actions, used to obtain this new beautiful girl that he sees!) Anyway, the producers seem to know that already too… To quote Mars, “In my songs I’m not saying something that’s never been said before. They have lyrics aren’t going to blow people away. It’s the emotion and the melody that drive it home.” I agree! The simplicity of the message is actually quite refreshing, as compared to the messages carried by the seemingly inexhaustible supply of club-bangers out there.

Going down to the nitty-gritty diction level, though, some of the lyrics are a little weird, though… uh the comparison to a Nintendo 64 is indeed puzzling, though it may be because I’ve never used one; perhaps, many gamers who’ve played with it frequently can identify with it freezing? Doesn’t work for me, though. Unfortunately, the line You’re my Wonder Woman, call me Mr. Fantastic doesn’t ring well in my ears too. Most of it is pretty solid, though, and I like verse 1, especially the little vocal effects thrown in at the end of each line.

I also enjoyed the video; using multiple cut-outs of various ladies as Mars sings Beautiful girls, all over the world… is certainly interesting. B.o.B has his shot on the guitar, which I know he can play and Mars has his turn on the drums. It’s pretty nice to watch.

This one’s one of my favourites in terms of production, though I can’t listen to it too much because it’s honestly very, very saccharine in terms of content. It was a very good release, in my opinion. I think the double #1 placing (in the US and UK) is pretty deserved. Good stuff!

OVERALL RATING = 7.5 / 10
Despite being drenched with sweetness, Nothin’ on You is nevertheless a very solid pop-rap collaboration that is able to showcase the talents of both B.o.B and Bruno Mars.